His Smallest Fan
by Shade the Hero
Summary: Sephiroth thinks about quitting his job as one of Final Fantasy's greatest villains, but through a simple act of kindness and the warm heart of a child he remembers what's really important. One-shot, AU and Fluffy Edit: Bonus chapter Added
1. Chapter 1

_This has been on my computer for a bit. In fact, I wrote it not long after finding out what the new guy from FF15 looks like. This one-shot takes place at a convention so there are anime cameos all over the place. But this one stars Sephiroth so, it's solely FF7 fluff. Yes, you heard right. I said fluff. Also slightly AU. _

_Enjoy!_

_Final Fantasy and all related characters belong to Square Enix. All other character belong to their respective owners._

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**His Smallest Fan**

Anime Conventions. To many it meant an entire weekend filled with boundless fun and excitement. From meeting favorite and famous people, getting their autographs, and joining in on pod casts and interviews to dressing up as their favorite characters and entering cosplay contests to buying all sorts of countless trinkets and treasures to seeing the latest sneak peaks of their favorite series and games. Fans would come from all corners of the globe just to attend one and this year's AtomicCon was no exception.

Oh, it was one-hundred percent pure fun for the fans, but for the actors? It was all a matter of opinion. Some, like the energetic puppy, Zack Fair loved conventions. Others seemed to forget that they were the special guests and acted more like fans. It became apparent to the observer when a laughing Sora and Edward Elric ran by with squealing fan girls hot on their heels.

Personally, the observer was annoyed. It wasn't that he disliked his adoring fans. He knew he owed everything to them otherwise he'd be tossed out for a more fan-appealing villain. In fact, he was seeing all the proof he needed a few booths away. The new hero to the Final Fantasy group earned actual, honest pity from Sephiroth. Prince Noctis had been sitting at his booth, waiting for people to ask for his autograph, but very few approached.

In fact, the raven-haired hero seemed to be glaring at the booth Next to Sephiroth's. A quick glance fully explained why. It wasn't hard to tell that next to the booth assigned to the villain of Final Fantasy Seven was its hero, though it was hard to actually see him through the large crowd of his adoring fans. Sephiroth could only just make out the iconic blonde, spikey hair. Another quick glance back towards Noctis' booth made it clear that the ravenette was jealous.

Sephiroth huffed at the idea. What did the kid expect? He was new and should have learned from the first day on the job. No matter how many games are added to the Final Fantasy lore, none of them would come close to beating the Seventh title. Nor would there be any chance that it's greatest hero would be so easily replaced. Even Sephiroth had to admit that Cloud had earned his spot and in turn there were few that could challenge Seph for his place. In fact, the only other villans that came close to dethroning him were other villains from spin off games and sequels from the Seventh Fantasy. Sephiroth had yet to meet the villain of Final Fantasy Fifteen.

A few hours later, after the crowds had begun to die down Cloud failed to fight back a yawn. It had been the first time his booth had been empty the entire day. He glanced over at Sephiroth and watched the silverette sign a poster for a smiling fan.

"Thank you!" she said with a blush as she ran back towards the Inuyasha booth to meet up with her friends.

"You look kinda down, Seph. This getting old for you?"

Sephiroth huffed at the question. "Tell me Cloud, even off set, how many times have you actually seen me smile?"

The blonde smirked. "Good point, but it wouldn't hurt to smile, even a little." He suddenly broke off and failed to stifle his laughter at the sight he focused on. Sephiroth followed the blonde's gaze over to Zack, Reno and Axel who were taking photos with fans and failed to hide a smirk when Zack was nearly choked by a head lock.

"You know something Cloud?"

The blonde returned his attention back to Sephiroth. "What?"

"You're pretty cheerful outside of work."

Cloud just shrugged and leaned back in his chair. "I'm just a good actor, besides, If I was really that depressed all the time people would start thinking I was emo or something."

"Emo?" asked Sephiroth with a rasied eye brow.

"Yeah~, I don't get it either," Cloud replied.

"Cloud!"

Both men looked to the left as an excited Sora came flying around the corner and skidded to a stop right in front of the blonde's booth.

"Check it out, we got new action figures! Your's comes with the Fenrir Keyblade!"

"Oh cool, lemme see that!"

Despite what some fans had come to believe, Cloud was not obsessed with his own fame. that much was true to his character. He was a country boy, born and raised until he landed one of the greatest roles in video game history, and somewhere deep down, he was still a kid at heart. He actually owned Fenrir as it was part of his deal when Advent Children had been released and he liked the idea of making a keyblade after it. His only gripe was that he never got to actually use it.

Sephiroth rolled his eyes seeing the two 'boys' geeking out over their own merchandise and turned his attention to who was walking down the street. it was definitely an odd sight to be sure.

Vincent Valentine; the popular actor who had turned down a spot for the surprisingly popular Twilight Movies, and instead focused more on his dream role to one day play Count Dracula. His only annoyance was the next time that role became available it was for a comedy and Vincent didn't do comedy.

This made it harder to believe as the red-clad ex-Turk made his way down the isle with a bright pink bag with two ponies printed on the side. sticking out of the bag were what looked like posters, shirts and...was that a large plushie Pinkie Pie?

Also, it seemed Vincent was not alone. He was being followed by a stream of fangirls who seemed to go unnoticed by the man. "Oh look," one shouted to the others, "There's Cloud Strife!"

The girls waved to him who raised hand up and smirked, though it was directed at Vincent who looked up at his friend and paled before quickly turning and headed in another direction.

"You're never gonna let him live that down, are ya?" Sora snickered.

"Nope," replied the blonde as he unclipped the Applejack charm from his cell phone and hid it in his pocket.

"It's not that bad," Sephiroth added his own opinion. "I rather like that Nightmare Moon character."

Sora's jaw dropped. "_YOU _like My Little Pony?!"

The silverette glanced over at the boy. "Do you have a problem with that?"

Sora became a little nervous. He remembered all too well the scene where he and Sephiroth had to fight in the second game and while the other actors went easy on him to make it look good, Sephiroth really was fighting with full power. "N-no, not really...I just didn't take you for a brony, that's all."

Sephiroth huffed at that. "I'm not the only _brony_ here, isn't that right, Cloud? Or were you hoping I didn't see that new charm of yours?"

Cloud's eye twitched at that. He'd make Sephiroth pay for it later. "Excuse me," he said while getting up. "I'm going to go meet up with Inuyasha so we can talk about how much we hate our older brothers."

"We're not brothers," Sephiroth corrected.

"Tell that to Kadaj," replied the blonde as he headed off.

Sephiroth looked back at Sora, but the teen had already moved on to catch up with Riku who was talking to Lelouch and Hiei. It was strange to for him to find himself alone, but after checking the time on his phone, Sephiroth had realized that most of the fans had left for the day. That explained why so many of the actors were walking freely around, though he smirked a bit seeing Vanitas trying to outrun a group of fangirls.

Sephiroth stood up to leave, leaving whatever posters and pictures where they were until tomorrow, knowing another crowd of adoring fans awaited him and his fellow anime actors. As he started walking he began to wonder why he was still doing this. He had been a valued video game villain for almost twenty years and over time the game's popularity never wavered. Sure it had its challenges and it's rivalries, like going toe to toe with other games like Pokemon, but Final Fantasy had held its own quite well and according to Zack's last online search was still in the top three ranked games for fanfiction stories with only Pokemon and Kingdom Hearts slightly more popular, but He was still featured in Kingdom Hearts, so technically the FF7 crew claimed both third and second. Why then was Sephiroth growing tired of all of this?

Was it because he was the bad guy? Was he tired of the role of bowing to his mother's will and torturing young cadets and soldiers? He used to love his job. Why was he starting to dread it now? He soon found himself standing stationary as he folded his arms to think. Was it because he forgot what it was like to enjoy the script? To show up for rehersal or during takes? Helping the game programmers copy his moves by sticking little round stickers on him while he swung his sword so they could track his movements and record them into the computer for gameplay? Was he really getting tired of it all? Should he think about quitting? Cloud had certainly beaten him enough times for the fans to be satisfied. Besides, the ending in Dirge of Cerberus was a teaser, revealing that Genesis was still alive. He'd probably be the new villain in the next game anyway. Not him.

"Maybe...I should quit while I'm ahead...," he whispered to himself.

"Um, excuse me, Mr. Silver?"

Sephiroth blinked and looked down. Standing a few inches from him and looking up, into his eyes was a small child. She couldn't have been more than five or six years old and she was hugging a pikachu plushie.

Sephiroth knelt down on one knee so he wouldn't tower over the girl. No need to frighten a child when not on the job after all.

"Yes?" he asked, trying to keep his voice as friendly as possible.

"Do you know where my mommy and brother are? I can't find d'em."

Sephiroth blinked before standing up and taking a look around. Aside from the last few actors who were leaving he didn't see anyone. "Can you tell me what they look like?"

The girl described them to the best of her young ability and Sephiroth soon ended up back at square one. No one who fit the girl's description was in the area. The general scratched his head, at a loss of what to do. He couldn't just leave the child here. He played his role as a villain with perfection and with great pleasure, but he wasn't about to leave a poor child lost and alone.

He held out his hand to her, "Come on, we'll look for your family together and I'll see if maybe some of my friends can help."

The girl nodded and shifted her pikachu plushie into an easier grip before taking his hand.

As Sephiroth walked with the girl in hand he passed by some of the lingering actors and proceeded to ask them about the girl's family. Neither Colonel Roy Mustang, Sango or Marik Ishtar knew, leaving Sephiroth to keep searching. He asked the same of Kyo Sohma, Naruto, Itchigo and C.C. and none of them had seen the girl's family either.

Sephiroth went looking for the convention center's security next, wondering if maybe they had an idea when someone called out to him.

"Hey, Did you get lost? We were suppose to meet up twenty minutes ago. Looks like we're going to be busier tomorrow with scheduled interviews and our fan clubs wanted to honor us with a special tribute."

Sephiroth huffed at the thought of another fangirl tribute as Cloud approached him. "Whose this?" he asked, bending down to the girl's eye level.

She gently pulled at his hair. "Spiky."

Sephiroth failed to hide a smirk and pretended to cough to hide a small laugh. "She's *ahem* um, I've been trying to find the girl's family. She came here with her mother and brother and got lost."

"Aw," Cloud replied, "Don't worry, we'll find them."

"T'anks, but Mr. Silver's been helping me and he asked a lotta people already," she replied, gripping Sephiroth's pant leg.

Cloud smiled as he stood up. "Look's like you have a new fan."

Sephiroth wasn't sure how to feel about that. True, this little girl may be a bit too young to recognize them. Their game was pretty violent after all, but almost everyone warmed up to Cloud. He wasn't going to deny it, for once it felt good to be the one that someone relied on.

"Looks like I do," he replied. He tried to hide it, but Cloud would recognize that small smirk anywhere.

"I'll fill you in later then." With that the blonde set off in the direction he had come from.

Sephiroth spent the next fifteen minutes looking for a security guard with no luck. He grumbled in frustration but stopped when the girl tugged a this leg. "Mr. Silver?"

"Yes?"

"I gotta go potty."

The general facepalmed, suddenly remembering why he was glad he didn't have kids. "Alright, hang on. I know there's a restroom around here somewhere."

Sure enough around the corner there was one, but he wasn't sure which one she should use for a moment. He'd let her go into the lady's room, but then she'd be all alone and he knew full well how easily a child could vanish without a trace. So, he decided to take her into the men's room. Thankfully there was no one there. He stood outside the bathroom stall and made sure the girl could see his feet from under the door, while holding onto her pikachu to 'keep it safe'.

After holding her up to the counter so she could wash her hands they left. Sephiroth was glad that was over. "Mr. Silver?" Spoke too soon.

"Yes?" he asked.

"I'm t'irsty," she replied.

And to the nearest vending machine they went. He was appalled that there was no bottled water as a choice. What kind of evil villain ran this place? Sephiroth was tempted to educate them. He was _not _about to give the girl soda. He had seen how Zack behaved after drinking one too many cans of Mountain Dew. He was not about to go through that again. "Is pink lemonade okay?" he asked.

The girl nodded with a smile.

Phew, disaster averted. After sliding in the dollar bill he waited for it to register when the cash was spit back out of the machine. Sephiroth grumbled. The girl only giggled. Sephiroth tried again. The machine still didn't accept it. Sephiroth's eye twitched.

"If you don't take the money I will personally drop you into the deepest firepits of hell," he threatened the machine and shoved the money in once again. A few tense seconds passed and nothing happened. Sephiroth smirked in triumph until the cash came back out again.

With glowing red eyes, Sephiroth was about to draw Masamune when the girl took the dollar bill.

"You gotta straighten it, like d'is," She rubbed the bill against the edge of the machine to straighten it and then slid it in the machine. This time it was accepted.

Sephiroth pressed the button and with a ka-plunk the little girl reached in and picked up the can, popped it open and took a few sips. "T'ank you," she said sweetly.

Sephiroth felt the smallest hint of a blush as he nodded. They decided to rest a bit as all of the walking had tired the poor girl out. Sephiroth forgot that children did run out of energy eventually. They were sitting on a bench and as she drifted off to sleep Sephiroth's mind shifted back to his current musings. Why was he still doing this?

A sudden pressure against his side made him look down. The girl had fallen asleep and was hugging his side, her arms wrapped around his middle, or as far around as they could reach. Sephiroth could actually _feel _his heart melt at the sight. She was so small, so young, so lost, and yet...she wasn't afraid. She didn't seem upset or wanted to cry once since she ran into him. Had that been his doing? From what he knew young children were suppose to cry when they were lost, but she didn't. Did that mean she felt safe? With him? Sephiroth wasn't really good with kids, heck he wasn't really good with people. So, then why did he feel such a strong urge to protect this girl? To help her? A part of it was that she preferred him over Cloud, but that was just an added perk.

Sephiroth felt something stir within him, a feeling he had long since forgotten. A sense that he was not great, but that he was _apart_ of something great.

"Emma!"

Sephiroth looked up, hearing a name being called. The one calling sounded female.

"Emma! Where are you?" came the voice of a younger male. If Sephiroth had to guess, they were the girl's family. He decided to test his theory.

"Emma?" he asked, gently nudging the girl awake. "Emma? Is that your name?"

"Mmhmm," she replied rubbing her eyes.

"I think I hear your mom and brother. They called for you."

"Momma? Kevy!" She called out loudly.

Two people appeared around the corner both wearing worried looks of concern, but then smiled and ran towards the two sitting on the bench.

Emma jumped down and ran into their arms when they got close. Sephiroth just sat back and watched. He was glad she had found her family.

'Kevy' or Kevin looked over at the man his little sister had been with and felt his jaw drop. "Sephiroth?"

The mother shook her head. "No, sweetie, the actors have all left. He's just a cosplayer," she turned to him and smiled. "Thank you for looking after my daughter. We only turned away for a second and she became lost in the crowd."

Sephiroth thought about telling her that he really was the real McCoy, but it wasn't important. Emma was home and safe and that was what mattered.

"I'm just relieved she found her family," he replied. "This place can get crazy. You should be more careful in the future."

With that he started to walk away. Careless parents, the thought of letting a child out of your sight for even a moment infuriated him. In a place like this? Anything could have happened to her!

A small hand suddenly grabbed his, stopping him.

"T'anks for helping me, Mr. Silver. I was really scared until you came. You made me feel better and also, t'anks for taking care of me."

All of his anger vanished as he knelt down and rubbed the girl's head like he had seen Zack do to Cloud countless times. "You're very welcome."

He pulled something out of his pocket. It was a small picture and a pen. He quickly scribbled something down and handed it to her. "Something to remember me by."

The girl took it and looked at it. It was a picture of Sephiroth and a little note that read,

_Thank you for reminding me what's important,_

_Your friend:_

_Mr. Silver._

Emma's smile lit up her face as she flung herself into his arms and hugged him. Sephiroth was surprised by this, but hugged her back before shooing her kindly back to her mother. As both parties went their separate ways Sephiroth felt better than he had in a long time, everyone else noticed the change as well.

Sephiroth was smiling. And it was all thanks to the little girl with the pikachu plushie.


	2. Bonus Chapter

_My gosh the response to this story is amazing. Thank you all for the wonderful reviews. It seems people wanted to see what became of sweet little Emma. Well, now we get to find out. And I kept something in mind for a friend who wanted to see more of a certain silver-haired teen. I gave him a bigger part this time. ;) Also had decided to have some laughs with a blonde who I love to torture to no end. xD Also a shout out to another awesome writer and friend on here by including their favorite FF7 character. I only hope I got his character right, Gen's not so easy. Anyways~ Hope you guys enjoy this chapter as much as the last one. Not so much fluff, but still sweet, I hope?_

_Enjoy!_

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**_Bonus Chapter_**

Ten years. That's how long Emma had waited to go to another convention. Her mother had gone into strict over-protective mode ever since the incident that had happened to her as a child. It only got worse when her older brother had gone off to college. Now it had just been her and her mother twenty-four seven and She was about to lose her mind. So, she did the only thing she could do, run away.

Perhaps run away was too strongly put. It was more like a vacation. A temporary break. Emma thought of it more as an adventure. A quest to find the one person that she had admired and looked up to ever since she was six. She opened her wallet and pulled out the picture from its protective sleeve and smiled as she looked at it.

Ever since she was deemed old enough to play T-rated video games, Emma went looking through every game she could think of. Her brother had a huge collection and it took her a while of looking before she found him. The funny part was, it wasn't a game that she saw him, but a movie. She didn't understand any of it, but she did recognize the man with the blonde hair. From what she remembered he was friends with Mr. Silver. So when she finally saw him make his entrance near the end it surprised her when the two ended up fighting.

Now she was sixteen and while she was excited to be at another convention and planned on having fun, she was here on a mission. She was not leaving until she saw Mr. Silver again. Most of the day had been spent looking for anything related to Final Fantasy Seven. She had passed by the booth marked for Final Fantasy Fifteen and approached the dark-haired man who was signing posters. He seemed nice enough, but when she asked about where the Seven booth was he wasn't very helpful.

Giving up on that lead she set out to find anyone else who might be more helpful. Her hopes soared when she spotted silver hair in the distance and ran up to see if it was him. She stopped when she came up to a booth labeled 'Kingdom Hearts'. The man with silver hair was sitting next to another man with brunette hair and a woman with blue hair.

The girl with blue hair smiled at Emma, "Hello there,"

"Um, hi," Emma replied looking over at the silverette, a little disappointed that it wasn't who she thought it was. "Um, you wouldn't happen to know where the Final Fantasy Seven booth is, would you?"

The three exchanged glances before the silverette nodded and stood up. "I'll go ahead and take you there, we had something to ask those guys anyway."

"Thank you," Emma replied as she trailed behind him.

They passed by a few booths before she voiced what had been on her mind since she saw him. "You kinda look like Sephiroth, are you related?"

At this Riku couldn't help but laugh. Emma felt a little embarrassed. "A lot of people ask me that, but don't read too much into the fanfictions, I've lost count how many times people have compared me to a remnant, but no, I'm not related to Sephiroth."

Over on the other side of the convention center a blonde was signing his 400th autograph of the day before sitting back and taking a break. His writing hand was practically screaming at him. The red-head sitting next to him only smirked as he signed another poster and a copy of the group's newest game: Crimson Legacies.

"What's the matter? Getting tired of your adoring fans?"

Cloud calmly shook his head. "No, just a little tired. Zack invited me to Yuffie's party last night and I had to be the responsible one and stay sober."

Genesis rolled his eyes, "You need to let loose my friend. You're beginning to sound like Sephiroth."

"I'm not _that _bad," the blonde defended. "Besides, I'm glad I didn't get carried away." Cloud jerked a thumb to his right over towards a less than enthusiastic puppy who was wearing a pair of sunglasses to protect his eyes from the glare of the ceiling lights.

"Hmm, point taken," Genesis replied.

The two watched a teenage boy walk by who was wearing a Rainbow Dash shirt that said "20% Cooler!" on the back.

"Can you believe that show is still popular?" asked Genesis.

Cloud just shrugged. A show like that didn't bother him, there were plenty of other shows that had been going for longer that were still around and they were nothing but crap. "At least that's worth watching," he replied causing Genesis to choke on his Pepsi.

"You're kidding right? Please don't tell me you actually watch ponies."

"When I have nothing else to do and manage to catch it on TV, it's not that bad."

Genesis couldn't stop staring, "What about polishing your sword, or working on that bike of yours? Or, practicing your skills? Anything's better than that!"

"My sword and bike don't need twenty-four hour care and after several successful games I doubt I could improve my skills anymore."

"But _ponies?!" _Genesis tried once to see what the hype was about it, but he could only gag at the blinding rainbow horses and their lessons on what it takes to be a better friend and that pink party pony, it made him shudder with disgust.

Cloud just blinked and shrugged, "I learned how to play the guitar over the summer, if that makes you feel better."

"Hey!"

Both the blonde and red-head turned to see Tifa walking up to the booth only to stop in front of Cloud and place her hands on her hips.

"Someone's in trouble," Zack snickered as he elbowed his friend.

Tifa glared at him, "Can it, shades."

He winced at her intense glare and went back to signing posters. Cloud sighed and folded his arms. "What is it this time?"

"You know full well what, you lost a bet and it's time to pay up."

"Come on Teef, I'm working," he whined, sounding more like a little kid who wanted five more minutes of sleep.

Tifa raised an eyebrow and pointed to the sign which read, 'on break'.

"My hand started to cramp up," he defended weakly.

Tifa gave him a mock smile, "N'aww, you poor baby, I know just what will help,..."

She walked around behind the booth, making the blonde nervous as she took his hand and pulled him along with her holding his writing hand in a crushing grip and ignoring his painful protests.

"Guys, a little help?" he called to the others. Genesis buried his nose into a book while Zack just waved with a sheepish smile, "Sorry Spikey, you're on your own."

"Some friends you are," the blonde retorted sourly as he was dragged off.

Emma listened to a few things Riku was telling her about the Kingdom Hearts games. She hadn't played them even though her brother had all of them and she was interested to find out more about them. Riku didn't want to spoil the story for her, but she said she didn't mind. Besides, he had a lot of good advice to give about fighting some of the bosses.

"So, when you get to that point in the fight, its best to run a few steps and then defend with Triangle before taking another few steps. You'll get to Sora faster that way and the Xemnas clone won't be able to knock you back as easily, oh and don't waste your potions on me, make sure Sora's health is full before that happens."

"That sounds like a tough fight," she replied.

"Not if you follow that advice. It sounds complicated, but you'll see what I mean when you get to that part. The real challenge is near the end when your trapped in that dome of light. I hope your good with rapid button mashing. You'll need to hit both triangle and X repeatedly in order to deflect the attacks. After that you just need one more finishing hit and you've won."

She nodded while still in thought before he cut in to her thoughts, "Here we are, the Final Fantasy booth."

She looked up and smiled when she saw the words Final Fantasy Seven in big letters on the top banner, but her smile faded when she only saw two people sitting there and neither one of them had silver hair.

Riku approached Zack, "Hey, are you two all that came?"

Zack shook his head, "Nope, Tifa just dragged Cloud off to a terrible fate somewhere. I don't have a clue when they'll be back."

"Oh," Riku replied looking over at Genesis next, "Hey Gen, Aqua was wondering if you had made your decision yet, about the next Kingdom Hearts title?"

Genesis closed his book and sat it on the table, "I haven't decided yet because I haven't seen the script. I would like a bit more screen time than as a simple secret or optional boss. Sephiroth might have not minded playing such a short role, I on the other hand deserve a little more credit."

Riku raised an eyebrow, "Didn't you already get enough screen time as the villain Zack had to fight in Crisis Core?"

At this Genesis huffed, "That was not a real final battle. Zack's last battle was against a battalion of mere troops!"

"Hey, that was my epic death scene! It was my big moment in video game history!" Zack snapped, feeling very offended.

Genesis glanced over at Zack and smirked, "Oh? I'm sorry, I thought that moment was famous because Cloud screamed like a girl."

Zack jumped to his feet, instantly regretting it as the room began to spin a little. "Take that back! A lot of people cried watching that scene!"

Genesis laughed, "Yes, I admit I cried too, but not out of heartbreak, no I was crying out of humor. When he told you goodnight I half expected cloud to tuck you in for a nap!"

And Genesis began laughing even harder, holding his sides, not paying attention to Zack who was slowly clenching his fists. Out of all the people in the world there were few that Zack disliked. Genesis had just earned a top spot on that list.

"Actually,"

Genesis and Zack looked over at the girl who was standing next to Riku (who was trying very hard to stay out of it), "Cloud didn't sound like a girl at all, my brother had to reenact that scene for a school project and he sounded just like Cloud when that part came up. He got a high grade for it and the drama teacher was impressed and he doesn't get impressed easily. And if you think about it, Saying goodnight is a lot better than saying goodbye. To many people, Goodbye is final, and you'll never see the person again, but in the storyline Cloud has seen Zack more than a few times after his death, whether it's through a dream, a flashback or in the lifestream itself. Also, that scene has been listed in the Video Gamerz magazine's Top ten most iconic moments in a defining event for a video game. I believe it was number six on that list."

The three cast members just stared and blinked at her until Zack slowly turned his head towards Genesis and looked smug. "Told ya,"

Genesis just rolled his eyes and went back to reading his book. Riku just sighed, glad that was over until he remembered, "Hey Zack?"

"Hmm?"

"Where can we find Sephiroth? Emma here's been trying to find him."

Zack sat back down and rubbed his forehead, "Sorry to tell you, but he didn't come to this convention. He's been real busy lately and was taking some personal time off. He'll be at the next one though, that's in,..." he pulled out his phone and scanned the schedule, "four months."

Emma took a step back, "Four months?! But, I needed him to be here this time! I can't make it to the next one!"

Zack removed his sunglasses and gave her a sincere look, "I'm sorry, Emma. There's nothing that can be done."

"You're out of luck my dear," Genesis added.

Emma looked down clenched her fists. "It figures, I was stupid to hope he'd be here." With that she took off running, leaving the three to watch her leave. Riku felt bad, Zack felt horrible and Genesis...just kept reading.

"Fangirls, they get more dramatic every year."

Riku and Zack glared at Genesis who looked up, sensing the harsh looks. "What?"

"It's a wonder you have any fans at all," Riku told him. "You said it," Zack added.

Emma kept running, not caring where she was headed. She was hoping for the exit, but a bathroom to ball her eyes out would work too. She turned a sharp corner only to trip over a cup that someone had missed throwing away and went stumbling forward, but two strong hands caught her before she hit the ground.

Emma looked up and was a bit surprised to see it was a cowboy of all things. She wanted to slap herself. For a split second she had hoped to see silver hair, but Zack had already said he wasn't here. Not only was she grounded for life, but it hadn't even been worth it.

"Hey, you alright?"

Emma looked back up at the cowboy who was still holding her, unsure if she'd fall if he let go.

"Y-yeah, thanks," she replied.

He let go folded his arms and was about to say something else when he saw something behind her and dove under a bench. He looked back up at the girl who blinked at him in confusion, "Shhh, I'm not here."

"Hey, you!" Emma looked up to see a girl wearing a black top and shorts with a cape attached to her belt and black gloves approach her. "Have you seen a guy in a cowboy costume?"

Emma shook her head, "No, I haven't. Sorry."

The girl let out a defeated sigh before shrugging, "Alright, thanks. Sorry to bother you." With that she headed off in another direction.

After making sure the coast was clear the man came out from his hiding place, "Thanks, I owe you one."

He took his chance to sit down, removed the cowboy hat and ran a hand through his spiky blonde hair. "I can't believe I got myself in the mess."

Emma looked at him and upon recognizing him, tried not to laugh. He was already feeling pretty miserable, then again she wasn't fairing much better. Keeping that in mind she plopped next to him.

"Looks like we're both up the creek without a paddle."

The blonde nodded, "Tell me about it. You say, 'let's mosey' just once and the whole world never lets you forget it."

"Could be worse," Emma said, "you could be sitting there in a dress."

"And suddenly being a cowboy doesn't seem so bad," he replied.

Emma smiled a little as she glanced at him, "Every cloud has a silver lining. I just wish I could find mine."

Cloud looked over at her and noticed she was looking at a picture. It was an old photograph of Sephiroth though the signature looked wrong. "Can I see that?"

Emma shrugged and handed it to him. He read the message and recognized his co-worker's hand writing. In all the years he had known Sephiroth he had never known him to personalize his signatures. He rarely added a message and never changed his name. "Where'd you get this?"

He handed the picture back to her as she looked at it and explained. "It was a few years ago since my last convention. I got lost. I don't remember a lot of it, because I was really little, but I remember going to him for help, because he was a grown up and didn't look as busy as the others. He was just standing there. He helped me find my family and then gave me this. I kinda felt bad when I got older and found out who he was. He probably had better things to do than help me, but when I read what he wrote it makes me feel better when I'm upset. I've been trying to meet him again, but my mom's been a bit over-protective ever since what happened last time."

"Sorry to tell you, but Seph's not here this time," he informed her.

"I know, Zack told me." She sighed and put the picture back in her pocket before getting up. "Not trying to tell you what to do, but you might want to go back to your booth. Zack and that red-headed guy looked like they wanted to rip each other apart when I left."

Cloud let out a moan, "Why'd Tifa have to hide my real clothes?"

Emma just shrugged, "What's wrong with what you're wearing? It'll help defuse the situation over there and to be honest, it looks pretty good on you."

"Seriously?" When Tifa had shown it to him he thought it was one of the ugliest things he had ever seen.

"Well, the hat not so much, but the red scarf looks good. It brings out your eyes and it's really not bad, also if anyone asks you could just say you were working on a Chocobo ranch or something," she replied with a shrug.

Cloud had to admit that idea hadn't occurred to him and it was a good one, but she turned to leave before he could say anything else, "I better get going and get my two year grounding over with now, since I don't think Mom'll forgive me until I graduate. Take care, Cloud."

He watched her go, before shaking his head and prepared to face his friends. He'd never live this down, but she did have a point. Looking like a cowboy was a lot better than the alternative. As he stood up he noticed something on the ground and picked it up. "That's not good." Cloud flipped open his phone and dialed a number.

A few hours later Emma was running through the airport. She had gone back to her motel room and cried herself to sleep, only to wake up and find out she was running late. She prayed that her flight would have a delay on it, since she was running so late and would surely miss it at this point. "Crap crap crap crap!" she chanted as she kept running. Getting through security was the worst part. She didn't have much, but the fact that there had been more than thirty people in front of her didn't help matters.

When she got to the gate her heart plummeted when she realized the big silver door was closed and the ticket lady was no where in sight. Taking a look out the window she saw the plane slowly being pushed in reverse as it got into position to take off.

With her shoulders sagged in defeat, she back-tracked and sat down on one of the benches. What was she going to do now? She had used all of her allowance money she had been saving up over the years for this trip and she didn't have enough money left to buy another ticket. She was stuck and had only one option left. She'd have to call her mother and have her come get her.

flipping open her phone she took a deep breath to collect herself and then turned it on. As she thought, her voice mail was full of messages from her mother. She deleted them without listening to them, knowing they would either be laced with worry, full of anger or just the sounds of her crying into the phone. There was one message though, that had been left about fifteen minutes ago. Emma decided to listen to that one before deleting it. What her mother said surprised her and she didn't know what to make of it.

_"Emma, sweetheart, I'm sorry I didn't try harder to understand. I should have realized that I was being too harsh and overprotective. After almost losing you that time, I got scared, but trying to keep you in my sights only made it worse and I should have realized it was only a matter of time before you tried to go out on your own like this. I received a phone call earlier and at first I was afraid, but it seems you've chosen a good role model to look up to. Do me a favor and tell him I owe him twice? Love you sweetie, see you soon, bye."_

Emma pulled her phone away from her to give it the weirdest look. "What the heck was that all about?"

Something floated down and landed in her lap. Emma looked at it only to realize it was the picture of Sephiroth she had always carried.

"I believe you dropped this."

She looked up and her jaw dropped when she saw him standing there.

It was really him, it was Sephiroth! she couldn't believe it.

"But, how?" she managed to say.

"Cloud noticed you dropped it when you ran off and asked me to return it to you."

Emma just shook her head. "No! Well, yeah, that, thanks, but how are you here? They said you weren't gonna be at the convention!"

"This is an airport," he calmly stated.

"You know what I mean," she retorted.

"Again, you can thank Cloud for that. He called me up to ask me if I had ever signed my name as 'Mr. Silver'. I told him I hadn't been called that in ten years and then I remembered who it was that gave me that name. A little girl who had gotten herself lost."

"I'm sorry if I troubled you back then, though I guess I'm not doing any better this time," she replied, rubbing her arm, embarrassed.

Sephiroth shook his head, "I almost didn't recognize you, without the stuffed pikachu."

She tried not to laugh. "Yeah, that thing met an unfortunate end thanks to the German Shepard puppy we got. Poor Pikachu never stood a chance."

She then hugged her backpack closer to her and looked up at him, "So, you came all this way just to see me?"

"In all honesty," he began as he flipped open his phone and scrolled through all of the calls he had gotten in the day, "I didn't plan on it, but a lot of people started calling me and left me some interesting messages." He hit play and handed the phone to her so she could listen.

_First saved message: From Genesis Rhapsodos_

_"Sephiroth, you should really stop being so cruel to your adoring fans. They get very testy when you don't show up. Poor girl, I thought she was going to break down she looked so upset. Keep this up and you'll have fewer fans than Noctis."_

_Next saved message: From Zack Fair_

_"Seph~! How could you do that, man? I know you wanted a little break an' all, but your fans were really hoping to see you, especially this one girl. She's been waiting for a long time to see you again and you let her down? not cool man!"_

_Next saved message: From Riku_

_"Hi, I know it's not really my business, but this is one convention you shouldn't have missed. There was a fan here who really wanted to see you and she said she wouldn't get another chance. I know how crazy some fans can get, but something seemed different about this girl. She seemed to know you more as a friend than a fan."_

_Next saved message: From Cloud Strife_

_"Hey Sephiroth, have you ever signed your name as Mr. Silver? There was a fan here who had a photo of you with that name in your hand writing. She also seemed pretty disappointed that you weren't here. She dropped the photo when she left and I couldn't find her to give it back, think you can swing by and help me find her?"_

_There are no new messages._

Emma pulled the phone away and handed it back to Sephiroth. "They all called you?"

"They did," he replied, putting his phone back in his pocket.

Emma could feel warm tears in her eyes at the thought of it. "You have some awesome friends," she said.

He sat down next to her, "I wouldn't really call them friends. Perhaps Cloud, but That's only because we spend so much time together. rehearsals, going over scripts and screenplays and such. Zack likes to party too much, Gen's always got his head shoved in a book and I don't really know Riku all that well."

Emma remained silent for a while, her sadness didn't escape the silverette's notice. "Something wrong?"

"I messed up big time," she replied.

"Care to be more specific?"

"I'm in so much trouble when I get home and I'm such a horrible daughter. I didn't tell her I was leaving, where I was going and now I have to call her up so she can come get me because I was stupid and missed my flight. I'd buy another ticket, but I don't have enough."

Sephiroth simply folded his arms and smirked with his eyes closed. "How do you think I got here so fast?"

"What?" asked Emma.

"I came on my private jet; one of the perks of being a successful actor."

Emma glanced over at him, "Perks huh. So I take it all of the other cast members get their own jets?"

"No," Sephiroth replied, "Cloud got to keep that motorcycle and Zack got to keep one of the buster swords."

"One of them? You mean there were more?"

"Well, one was too rusted which was the one Cloud stuck in the ground at the cliff, the other was kept in perfect condition for the end of the movie and Zack got to keep the one he used most."

"Oh."

Sephiroth looked over at the departing flights, "So, which airport was your flight suppose to land at? I could give you a ride."

"Oh, no, nononono, I couldn't ask you to do that. I've caused you enough trouble already!"

"It's no trouble, besides, I've already called your mother and she's expecting both of us."

"Us?" Emma had to do a double take. _So that's what her mother meant in the message!_

"Okay, let's go then. She's gets a little weird when she worries too much," Emma replied as she gathered her things.

"Then let's not keep her waiting."

Emma followed after him and couldn't stop smiling. He had done so much for her, just like he had ten years ago. She knew she had to do something to make it up to him.

Sephiroth on the other hand was thinking about how lucky he was to have a fan like her. It was her that had changed his outlook all those years ago. True, his fellow cast members were an odd bunch, but he had come to respect them over the years.

On the jet ride home Sephiroth handed her an envelope. "Here, this would have arrived in your mail box in a few days anyway, but I thought it best to give to you now."

Emma looked at the envelope and read the address. It was from Cloud, but it had her address on it. "How do you guys even know where I live?"

"Reeve is quite skilled with computers. I don't think there's anything he can't do with one."

She nodded, knowing that was probably true and opened what she thought was a letter. Instead it was two photos. Emma couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Something funny?" asked Sephiroth.

Emma couldn't bring herself to say it, so she just handed the photos to him.

The first had a picture of a blonde-haired cowboy posing (Cowboy hat and all), giving her a thumbs up and the second one was a picture of him sitting at the Final Fantasy Booth in between Zack and Genesis who were all but rolling on the floor with laughter. They were in complete hysterics and poor Cloud just looked miserable, though he was just simply trying to tolerate the humiliation.

Emma noticed there was writing on the back of one of the pictures and took it from the laughing silverette. Sephiroth didn't laugh openly, but seeing the blonde looking so ridiculous, he couldn't help it.

Emma was too busy reading what Cloud had wrote her to notice.

_"They didn't buy the chocobo ranch idea, but it did help them get along. The fans also got a kick out of it and thanks to you I had to sign even more autographs and got more pictures taken than normal. I doubt my reputation will ever be the same. My hand's pretty cramped up, but I wanted to thank you. I Look forward to seeing you at the next convention, if you can come. I'll make sure Sephiroth will be there next time. I still owe you one after all._

_Cloud Strife~"_

Emma flipped the picture over and smiled that it was the one that he was being laughed at. Looking closer she noticed that, although he appeared to be miserable, he was really smiling.

Looking up from the picture and smirking at the silverette that had finally composed himself, she gazed out the window at the city lights far below.

Yep, definitely worth it.

**_~*~FIN~*~_**


End file.
